Swimming In It
I won’t predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible. ~ Michael Phelps
I spent last night reading George Orwell’s treatise Why I Write over a grande mocha coffee and an eclectic, shoe-boxed set of mid-90s alternative and pop rock. Only a hundred or so pages long, Orwell has thus far dissected the English as somewhat of an exception to the European rule of societies and cultural norms, lashing the English as bullheaded and somewhat dull, yet independent and loyal to the isles. Further, he goes into the faults of capitalism as a insecure system of government when faced with others more galvanized to a certain end state such as those of socialism and fascism, the two main opponents to the British way of life in the 1930s. To a quick surmise, Orwell states that the purpose of capitalism is to maintain the status quo in order to insure that wealth continues to be promoted. Regardless of the fact that greed inspires industry and innovation in a capitalist model, it’s greatest downfall springs from the same driving force. Greed, in turn, will also push the industry and innovation to do not what is in the best interest of the State, in spite of of whether or not they realize that it is the State that allows them to subsist, but rather to do what is most profitable. Only competition among governments and competing forms of State (such as The Cold War or WWII) will allow a capitalist government and society to remain bristled, defensive, and thus, patriotic.
Which could lead us to explain the rather down-trodden case of Michael Phelps. To be fair, I have only been half-heartedly following this small blip on my morning Sports Center headlines. I think that it deserves as much attention as the whole “he said / she said” nonsense surrounding the steroids usage in certain baseball situations… because quite frankly, it’s a bummer. The deflating aspect of these stories is certainly one that major sports news networks have to understand. Nearly all sports fanatics live for the rousing adrenaline rush of the down-to-the-wire game, the bottom of the ninth grand slam, the fourth quarter Hail Mary pass. Because of this, fans revel in the victory, sometimes for entire off-seasons, toasting their favorite athletic heroes all the way to spring training. To show such heroes in chains, being lead from a courtroom, in front of a grand jury, or simply in a manner that is unbecoming of someone who’s gifted athletic ability is an inspiration to so many; well, to put such a thing in front of a fan is about as much of a buzz kill as seeing blue lights flashing in your rear view on the way home from watching the big game at the sports bar on a Sunday night.
I would agree that from time to time it is necessary to throw a player to the dogs… no pun intended Mr. Vick. However, in the case of Michael Phelps it is not one of those times. Which is why I was shocked and offended to learn that authorities in our country are trying to see if they can mount a case against Michael Phelps based on pictures that surfaced recently with Phelps in the middle of what appears to be a rather large bong hit.
This whole thing is an utter outrage. Michael Phelps is an American hero. He’s not some sort of over-paid designated hitter or brain-addled pugilist with anger management issues; he is an Olympian, which means that he was not paid a dime to go win more Gold Medals for this country than any other single athlete in history. Also, he didn’t play Detroit or LA or New England… this motherfucker played against the entire fucking world! And it wasn’t a best of seven series either. No, it was a winner-take-all one-time deal. This man is an icon to the world and a shining beacon of American athletics.
So it should be noted first that it was a British newspaper who first published the story. And like anything sensational, once it’s out, it’s out. So it was covered, ever so delicately, something that only the sports world could do as they are seemingly the only news source with a level of journalistic integrity left on the planet… at least at first. International sponsors laughed at the situation. One Swiss sponsor of Phelps called it, “a personal matter… we don’t see what the big deal is,” and did nothing to the champion swimmer. Speedo, Phelps’s largest sponsor and also European-based, said something similar, and went on to say that they were “proud” to continue to sponsor Phelps and have him as a member of Team Speedo. With that, the rest of us laughed the whole matter off as a passing fancy.
But unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. It then came down that Phelps was banned from swimming competitively for one month. This was the first level of absurdity for me; first that there was actually a national swimming league in the first place and second, the punishment that was meted out. I could see if he was shooting up performance enhancing drugs that may have given him a competitive edge, but marijuana? Still, rules are rules, I guess, and if you break them, then I suppose there is some level of obligation to enforce them. A month is a slap on the wrist, in any sport, regardless, so why bother with it. I say just fine the guy, and move on. Look at is as a sort of a misdemeanor in the sporting world. But nope, we’re not done yet… Soon after that it seems that local authorities have gotten wind of a similar stance on the photo, are now grinding down an ax to see what they can scalp off from this American legend in the name of Justice.
I haven’t really been following this story for nearly a week, so if I’m missing something, I’m sure someone will let me know. The thoughts surrounding this keep rolling in my mind. How can something like this be actually happening to someone like Michael Phelps? If you look at the sort of people who he is now in camp with, he looks like the Boy Scout who finds himself wrongly in a maximum security lock-up trying to maintain his fruit cocktail in the cafeteria. I know that there are no exceptions to the Law, and if there were it ceases to remain functional… but isn’t there something to all that?
George Clinton was on NPR this morning discussing this and that, but one thing that he mentioned is that the government finds it more profitable to keep marijuana illegal than it would be to legalize it and sell it. It then occurred to me that despite outcries from our own people, despite the multiple studies on the health effects of marijuana verses cigarettes, and despite an entire European continent who seems to have a more robust economy than our own despite legalized weed; we as a nation, nay, as a State, still choose to do what is profitable over what is perhaps morally correct. I’m not saying that smoking weed is moral. What I am saying is that locking up a prized Olympic legend as well as hundreds of thousand men and women of this country from the lower class while the upper class drug usage gets turned a blind eye is not only immoral but also unjust and corrupt… though nonetheless profitable.
Perhaps Orwell has a point. Most interesting of all is that Orwell points out that it was the decadence and rooted philosophy of this that caused England to so nearly fall to Hitler in World War II, had it not been for American intervention, notably on the heels of our own Great Depression. The question I wonder is if we are unable to save our own international symbols of excellence because of Laws rooted in profit, who will intervene for us when the next Reich comes?
